Hi all,

Ok, i wondered if anyone had any advice for me? My grandfather is with the Post Office landline and has not had his phone working (dead line) since a week last wednesday (10 days now.)

We reported that it wasn't working that day and they didn't send an engineer out until the saturday. When he came, he checked the line and said that it was working and that it was internal problem, then left.

That day the phone worked for about an hour then went dead again, so my Grandfather went out and bought a new phone to plug in the socket and it still didn't work.

He decided to get an electrician in to try and fix the problem. The electrician said the problem was not internal but outside!
So we rang the post office back again yesterday and they said that they'd call back withing 24hrs. They did and said they can't send anyone out until Monday as they are 'choc a block'!

Now i'm wondering what to do here, because my Grandfather is 83, living on his own and does not own a mobile or car, as he is visually impared. (which we explained over the phone) Now shouldn't my grampa be a priority?! By Monday he will have had no emergency contact for 2 weeks! I'm not happy in the slightest.

Oh and i think the Post Office said that they rang BT to do this?

If his landline rental was still with BT, he would probably qualify for their Free Priority Fault Repair service (there are quite strict qualifying rules though).

I am not aware whether other providers offer the same sort of service.

Thanks Heinz, i just tried that link and went to ' Report a fault' it said 'There is no BT service recorded against this number.'

So it's entirely down to the Post Office then?

If line rental is being paid to the Post Office then your only contact is with the Post Office phone service, they then contact BT (Open Reach).

Which, IMHO, is one of the many downsides of moving your line rental from BT.

Not necessarily. I'm with BT and have been for 15 years yet in the last year my number is apparently not registered with BT. Unfortunately, I had a similar problem and was without phone for 4-5 days being told numerous different stories as to why. In the end, after being passed around a few times, I had to rant in order to be prioritised. I was still never given a reason for the lack of service and no dial tone and if I dial 150/151 I am still apparently not registered with BT but at least I have a working phone again.

Just keep phoning BT from your phone about the fault on your grandfather's line. If you complain enough, they will appoint a customer relations person to you who should hopefully push through the fix required.

Yes, I've always advised like yourself to keep line rental with BT.

Thanks everyone. Although the strange thing is, my grampa also recieves a bill from BT every 3 months for about £4.00 rental? It doesn't make sense really.

Regrettably, it does.

That's a quarterly rental for a telephone instrument - which many thousands of (mainly elderly) people are still paying because they haven't realised that you can BUY a telephone for less than that these days.

PLEASE check it out for him and cancel the rental (if necessary buy him a phone). BT are likely to say, "Keep it."

If you have the time, please go a stage or two further for him by helping him to switch back to BT for his line rental and then consider the recommendations in my 7-steps to telephony money-saving guide.

Thanks very kindly for your help Heinz. I will do as you said and put him back to BT. Thanks for the link will have a good look.